Ai:Changling
by BishoujoJade
Summary: We all do what we must for the love of our loves. What will InuYasha do when Kagome needs him the most. What is he willing to sacrifice in exchange for her wellbeing?
1. Woundling

Fire danced and licked around the hut, the shadows and silhouettes owning the small space. Outside, it had began as a light sprinkling of the land outside, but eventually the skies open and emptied its load on the village; as if it were crying. The downcast [mood] seemed to fight its way into the confining quarters of the hut, as five people scattered within all cast their eyes towards two figures nearest the fire.

A monk, seeded with a great desire to just be of some assistance, as that was his life's calling to do. But he could do nothing but stare at his hands. Useless. What did the Gods put him on this land to do, if nothing was all he could do. Sensing the houshi's inner turmoil at the events unfolding in front of them, the taijiya reached out and grabbed her husband's hand, lending him her strength. Miroku glanced back at Sango, and tightened the grasp on her hands. He searched her eyes, finding the understanding that he needed. She titled her head to the side and nodded, trying to broadcast as much comfort as she could in her stare.

A little fox youkai sat staring from the corners of the hut, eyes rimmed in red and swollen in grief and his heart lurching forward at the possibilities that lay at hand. He tried to be brave. He tried to be silent, his sobs probably not helping a soul. He couldn't' help it. Yet still, he tried.

Where the fire's flames were the warmest, laid a miko. The customary glow that followed her pure spirit was now dulled and willowy. Her head cradled within the lap and circled within the arms of a hanyou, her husband.

"InuYasha..." Kaede softly called out and looked up directly at the inu-youkai, who was bent over, face buried in the exposed expanse of Kagome's chilled neck. "I have managed to stop the bleeding, but I fear that with the amount of blood she lost and the amount of poison she took into her..."

InuYasha snapped his head up, a low grumble started within him and a menacing dark, yet lost glaze captured his eyes. He was daring Kaede to finish her statement. Kaede managed to ignore the anger in his hot glare, straightened her spine and continue to pinpoint her stare directly at him. The edges of her eyes softened a bit at him and she reached out to put a weathered hand his slumped shoulder. "Prepare yourself, child." She hesitated, but after a moment continued. "I fear Kagome may not make it but a handful of days more. The poison has attacked her spiritual center as well as her body. And as strong spiritually as Kagome is....She is fighting InuYasha. Yet, there is only so much she ca.."

InuYasha felt his heart crumble. The pain was so unbearable that the howl in his soul, couldn't be quieted. He glanced down at the women he held in his arms. Even as close to death as she was, her beauty was flawless. She was so strong, everything his strength held for him physically she was everything and more, spiritually. His Kagome.

***

She sacrificed herself for him. As she did time and time again. For him. Without Kagome he felt incomplete, lowly and unworthy of her love, yet she offered it without complaint of what she'd sacrificed, what she's let go for the gift of his love. Gift. Feh. What gift, what honor was it for her to cherish and [sacrifice] for his love when he'd let her down. He'd sworn with his very life force that he would always protect her, never let harm come to her. Catch her with his love and might. Yet he was the one left standing, when she had fallen.

He searched his mind. Searched for any other possible outcome, something, anything he could have done differently. _I should have locked her in the shed, strapped her to the floor. How could I have let her leave the house? Why didn't I get Miroku or Sango to go with her? Why...why....why..._

Fate would allow this to happen on the night of the new moon. Kagome, with her spiritual powers growing more powerful by each sun fall, had sense danger approaching the village. Youkai. As she gathered her bow and her quiver, she commented "I think its very strange for youkai to appear, it has been months since an attack...."

Suddenly, another village appeared in their doorway, confirming her sensing of the aura. "Lord InuYasha. Lady Kagome. There has been an attack on a nearby village and they have warned us that it is fast approaching our village." Her duty called her to the outskirts of the village where the youkai's aura poisoned the air. Quietly, with no fear in her eyes, calm surrounding her, she urged her husband to stay inside.

"You know very well what night it is. I won't have you putting yourself in danger's way." As she made her way to the door, she felt him speed across their home, then him grabbing her around the waist. "You mean to go off and fight without me. I won't allow that Kagome." She turned to look at him, her eyes blinking from determined to understanding. She understood that he was still fueled by a desire to protect her. And she, one any other night would have more than welcome him standing at her side. But there was no way she would involve him. It was her turn to protect him. In the only way she could. She reached up and kissed the underside of his chin, running her other hand down the arm that was wrapped around her.

She quelled his request to face the danger himself. She touched him, if only for a second, with all the love she held within her, spoke of that love and demanded that if he loved her in return, he would stay hidden away in their hut. And with that she left.

"I'll be damned if she thinks that gonna keep me in this hut while she fights" The hanyou raised from his crouched form on the floor, grabbed his sword and bounded for the door, "Its not what this bond is built on Kagome..."

Senses dulled, he had slight trouble catching her scent, but the instant he locked onto her sakura honey and mint scent, he took flight within the trees towards her. When he finally reached her, she and a handful of the villagers faced off with the youkai. The daemon thrashed wildly as the villagers pillaged it, pitchforks and garden swords as their weapons. Whipping around, the youkai attacked again, a green liquid spewing forward, a spike like figure shooting across the distance.

The villagers dodge out of the way of the speeding object. Kagome realzing its mark too late, was made its target, as the spike hit her in the shoulder. As soon as the spike hit, pain burned its way up and down Kagome's side. More surprised by the shock of auric pain than physical pain, Kagome collapsed onto her knees, her eyes violent as she reached up to grab the only exposed skin that burned with each breath she took. Suddenly the youkai stopped moving, seemingly running out of energy. After several seconds of stillness, Kagome worked against the stinging to stand back up, trying to take advantage of the youkai's [stillness] . She reached within her quiver, strung a bow. Her body reacted to her aura, her body hummed with a tinted light and violently lifting her tresses from her back to seemingly shoot straight up into winds.

"Die..." The miko let go of the hilt of the arrow and the world seems to come to a halt as the arrow broke the air, steady and true towards the youkai. The arrow hit its mark and furrowed deeply within the center of the youkai. A shriek that erupted from the youkai as he fell, caused many to throw their hands over their ears, but as it hit the ground, nothing but relief washed over. No longer able to ignore the burn of the small wound, she tossed her longbow to the wayside as she winced and cried out.

He had wanted to drop down from his hiding place in the trees the moment he saw her injured but when she quickly recovered he laid quiet in the shadows. But the moment the demon fell, InuYasha leaped down from the trees, his cape of dark hair following his wake. He reached his miko's side in a matter of seconds, wrapping his arms around her. Taken back by his sudden appearance at her side, Kagome looked up at InuYasha, slight worry flashing across her brow and tinged anger sparking in her eyes. Luckily the pain has began to subside, as her quiet fury rose.

She backed out of his embrace, and pinpointed him with her stare. "You never listen, you stubborn stubborn MAN! You were to stay home!". She had to prevent herself from stomping her feet in frustration, but she had no doubt her injury would have protested to that notion anyways. "If the shoe was on the other foot, and I had done this, you'd be furious! You...."

"Shut your squabbling, woman."

And with that he silenced the flow of heated words that left her lips and buried his face in the hitch of her neck and inhaled. He pulled her back into his embrace, sliding his arms to her waist and circling her there. He smelled no blood, sense no harm had come to her, so she could pitch a tantrum unfit for the Gods for all he cared. She was safe. And he was taking her home.

He placed both hands on either side of her face, albeit it all the while it was still twisted in her anger for him. He kissed her heated brow, nuzzled her affectionately and let his hands drop as she sighed a breath of acceptance. She tilted her head sideways and the hint of a smirk teased her lips.

"You'll pay for this, koi. Trust me." She winked at him and with a small noise of determination, she then turned back to the youkai.

The villagers had surrounded the beast who had long fallen and made a path for Kagome to fully purify the youkai. She calmly removed herself from InuYasha's side and, head raised, approached the oni. She reached back to hilt another arrow when she realized that it was behind here where InuYasha stood. She looked over the shoulder where her stubborn husband stood and called out to him to bring her bow and watched him reach for it.

Something spiritually flashed across Kagome's eyes as InuYasha reached for the bow. As soon as her aura alerted her to the movement, the seemingly dead youkai suddenly raised one of his tentacle-esque limbs and buried it into the ground. Dumbfounded as to why she couldn't sense the youkai still alive, she sense the trajectory of the tentacle. Her eyes grew in horror as she saw that it was headed for InuYasha. The world slow, the words were trapped in her throat, and she turned and ran for her husband.

His senses still dulled by the new moon's affects on his bloodline, InuYasha couldn't sense the path of tentacle. He unsheathed an untransformed Tessiaga and lifted it to strike the youkai. His eyes darted left and right, his feet stilling trying to feel the vibrations the tentacle made as it coursed through the earth. A emotion he wasn't quite akin to feeling crept into his chest, anxiety, as he was totally lost as to where the tentacle would appear. But he didn't have long to feel the emotion as suddenly he saw the terrain break a few feet in front of him. In the next breath, he felt his body heaved out of the way as the sharpened point of the tentacle knocked the Tessiaga out of his hands, whipped past his head....

and straight into the side of Kagome.

The tentacle spiked through Kagome and drew back out of her. Slowly, but all to quickly he watched his angel fall to the earth, her hand reaching out to the sky. Reaching for the sky when she should have been reaching for him. His entire world caught in his chest and as quickly as he could get up turned around, bringing his blade down into the flesh of the youkai's appendage. Gashing deep into the youkai's arm, he raised Tessiaga up again and with the next blow, severed the tentacle. With wide feral eyes, he watched the detached flesh wither until its movements ceased.

InuYasha tore into the air, whipping his body down and shaking his head in disbelief. He dropped to his knees and roared out to Kagome, tearing his suikan off his shoulders and brining it to the wound at her side. He noticed that she was shaking. Out of fear...pain. He couldn't tell by looking into her despondent chocolate eyes that had darkened.

He couldn't control his anger. Anger with himself but directed towards his wife.

"W-W..Why would...stupid WOMAN! Why would you...why did you do that?!" He gasped out harshly. He clutched her closer to him, tucking her under his chin. He was mindful in fact of her injuries but dually just wanted to hold her; hold her until she didn't hurt anymore. He cursed his dulled sense, his inability to help her. The salty fragrant wafting through the air, surprised him none. He knew his miko was crying as she continued to tremble with pain.

Quietly, through labored breaths, she reached out for him, grabbed his dark sidelock and closed the gap between his face and hers. "What would you have had me do differently, husband, if it were you in my place?" He understood what she meant, understood her words, but in the same breath didn't want to. Then as she reached again, with the pad of her thumb, silently wiped away a tear that scorched a path down his fevered cheek. She then whispered words he didn't knew she knew, words in a language that he had long separated himself from, words that only he and his kinds would know of.

She whispered in Inu that she loved him. Then she went faint.

InuYasha tipped his head back and howled her name into the night. Tangible panic ripped throughout his body, and his heart slammed within his ribcage. Without a seconds further hesitation, he gathered her into his arms and bounded back towards their hut. He could hear the villagers behind him, calling out to him, he all but ignored them as he just continued to run. The greenery and vegetation nipped and tore at his skin as he traveled through the thick bowels of the forest, but he didn't care. He continue his pursuit onwards. At that very moment, he cursed his human blood after what had seemed like a long period of peace with that side of him. He found anger with it once again, for what would have been a flash in time, turned into a seemingly distant trek back to his home.

Reaching his destination, ignoring the pain of exertion from his sprint, he tore down the door mat in his fury to get inside. He gently laid her on their futon in the corner, pressing a kiss against flush forehead. He peeled the red suikan from her side and tossed it over his shoulder. He, then tore at the sash that held her top together, careful not to anger her wound. Her hadagi was soaked through, crimson spreading wildly on her left side. She was bleeding all over the place, all over him. He lifted his own kosode off his back and over his head, ripping it into smaller elongated tears, carefully but swiftly, wrapping them around the wound, trying to stop the bleeding. But it wasn't working. The bleeding wasn't stopping......she wasn't waking up.

His humans ears caught the sounds of someone approaching behind him and he snapped around to find Kaede. The villagers who weren't far behind InuYasha, notified the healer of the miko's condition and she made haste to the hut. She approached Kagome, quickly assessing the situation and she grabbed a root and a small circular dish from the basket she held over her arm. She grabbed the pail of water, sitting not too far from the futon that Kagome rested, and quickly dipped the ladle, pouring the water into the dish. Kneeling to Kagome's side, she then laid the root down onto the saucer and with her hands, compressed the root. The root slightly disintegrated, and after several moments of grounding with her hands, a paste of dank greens and softened bark chips had formed. Removing the blood drenched tattered strips of InuYasha's kosode, she applied to the paste of the root over the sizable gash at Kagome's side. Taking a gallant sniff into the air, the older woman shot a cursory glance downward before lifting her head

She then turned to InuYasha, trying to hide the gravity of the situation from her eyes. With only his pants clothing him, Kaede tugged at the hem of his hakama, beckoning him back down to Kagome's bedside. Taking his hand she placed it over the paste mixture and the wound, which seemed to be controlling some of the bleeding. "Hold it there child. I cannot prepare more of these herbs and contain the bleeding at the same time." Quickly standing she tore out of the hut as fast as her aged bones could carry her. InuYasha gazed down at the wound he held his hand against. He gazed locked on to his hands.

Human and claw less. Worthless. How could she accept these humans hands when they were useless in protecting her? How could she accept him, when he failed her so emphatically? Were his senses that inept that he couldn't sense the youkai's presence? So expendable that his only use that night was to put his very heart in harm's way when his only reason to grace her presence was to protect and love her? He was going to lose her, and had no soul on this very earth to blame but himself.

***

Kagome blinked slowly, unaware of her surroundings and how long she had been out. She was surrounded by black and couldn't see as far as the hand in front of her face. She shot awake, realization dawning on her. The de ja vu of the whole situation causing her breath to stall in her chest. The eerie blackness of the situation reminded her of one thing, her time spent inside the shikon no tama.

But she knew that she couldn't possibly be trapped there again. The jewel had been destroyed for years and no story of it reappearing had surfaced. _So if I'm not there, where am I?_

She lifted herself from her prone sitting position, carefully as she had no idea where she was or what surrounded her. She called out into the darkness waiting for a reply, but all she heard was her voice echoing over and over again, drifting in and out around her. Completely taken back by what was going on, she screamed until she was hoarse, until her head started to throb. She finally gave up, seeing as no one could hear her, no one could save her. No one. Where was she. Why was she here.

An idea sparked in her head and she almost rolled her eyes at not thinking of it before. She held her hands out in front of her, clasping them together. She concentrated her energy and instantly the power spiraled down her arms and centered on her arms, causing them to tint with her spiritual power.

As if brought to life by her spiritual aura, the area surrounded her came to light, brightening to a blinding white. Surprised, she stopped the energy flowing from her core, hoping the the light when dim itself. But it didn't, it stayed bright. After a few moments, she cracked her eyelids, gradually allowing her eyes to adjust to the light. Blinking twice, she noticed that there was a figure standing directly in front of her., She tried to focus on the person, and she bit back the temptation to shout in fright at recognizing who the figure was.

"KIKYO?"

She heard the figure snort, throwing her hands into the air. Kagome blinked again, and suddenly the figure was directly in front of her, so close that she could see a mist like steam leave her lips every time she breathed.

"Do I look like Kikyo to you? Or do I look like you, baka?". Kagome backed up a step so she could fully focus. This woman in front of her wasn't Kikyo, no not at all. With the second glance, what she had mistaken for "Kikyo" pulled back hair, was actually cropped hair that stopped just below the woman's chin. She then realized that the reason she mistook the woman for Kikyo was that she bore a strong resemblance to Kikyo...which in turned meant she bore a strong resemblance to..

"I'm you, idiot." The woman then parted the heavy robes she wore to reveal the scar that Kagome recognized instantly.

Kagome gasped. Was she losing it? What was going on?

"Where the hell am I? Am I dead? I'm dead, aren't I". Kagome started to feel faint. Would she never see her family again?

The figure rolled her eyes, then holding up one finger to signal to Kagome that she wanted her to be quiet. "No. Not hell. Not heaven, either. Not anywhere really."

The figure took this time to tap lightly on the miko's forehead. "We are in your head. You're not really "here" so to say. But you have descended into the recesses of your mind. And I'm here to help you find a way out. Before you REALLY die." The figure held still for a moment to let the idea sink into Kagome's head. When Kagome continued to look forward but said nothing, the woman continued.

"Since you seem to be in some sort of, shock, I'll continue, yes?" She rounded Kagome once, finally landing in front of her again. " Do you know why you are here, Kagome?" Kagome managed a shake of her her head, her hands itching to bury themselves in her hair and pull. "I'll take that as a no. You are here because your body is dying. Your soul...me...sent you here. To reserve ourselves, to lend our physical body as much power as we can. And in order to do that, we had to separate your mind from you body. You can't very well concentrate if your mind actually felt how much pain your body is in."

"My body is dying..." and as soon as the words left her lips, the memory of what happened flooded her mind. The new moon, the meadow, the youkai, InuYasha....the tentacle.

Kagome looked back up when the figure placed her hand on the miko's shoulder. "Sit Kagome. You must spend time concentrating on getting well." Kagome looked lost, looking down at her hands.

"The process is really simple. Concentrate on why you need...why you want to live. Your powers will do the rest." Kagome's soul walked to her side, taking a seat on the empty white floor, motioning for Kagome to do the same. As she joined her on the ground, the woman turned to the miko and gingerly asked. "So. Tell me why you don't want to die...."

*****

Time passed very slowly for the hanyou, which held duality for the hanyou. Kaede had for casted a very small window of time for Kagome's life. So the fact that time felt like it'd come to standstill allowed him more time just in her presence.. Kagome still unconscious from the loss of blood, had whimpered in pain for what seemed like hours, her pain lasting throughout the stillness in her mind. Miroku and Sango had bounded into the hut the moment they got word of Kagome's state. Sango had loomed closely to InuYasha's side, seemingly wanting to reach out to Kagome, but withdrew.

"She looks so fragile..." Sango's broken voice beckoned her husband to her side, gently lifting his wife and wrapping gentle comforting arms around her.

Kaede soon rejoined the group of people in the small hut, carrying with her now fresh bandages and what appeared to be a small vial of liquid. Rin followed Kaede, lugging a bigger basket of medicinal herbs. On Rin's shoulder crouched a very troubled and worried Shippou in tow. Shippou hopped to the ground and bounded for Kagome but a steely glance from Kaede halted his process. So Shippou quietly whimpered in sorrow as Kaede continued her care of Kagome.

Something caused InuYasha breath to catch again, and as he felt his center pulse. He then realized that dawn had approached. Slowly lifting his eyes from Kagome's form he looked past the fire pit and through the window. Light filtered through the cloth covering and into the hut. InuYasha's core pulsed again and he lowered his lids as he felt himself transform. Opening his eyes again, he glanced at his hand. Youkai and clawed. He felt his jyaki flowing from him, his senses sharpening and the dynamism of his heritage mushrooming within him. He bit back a sigh but didn't fight the rumble that seeped from his center. He had regained his power, and his eyes yet again locked onto Kagome's frame, powerless.

As they watched the miko rest, they'd learn from the older healer that while the gash at Kagome's side wasn't as deep as determined, it was still a very serious wound. In conjunction, the oni tentacles contained a seemingly baleful and poisonous venom, and a antidote wasn't readily known in the village. Kaede sent out four messengers to neighboring villages for a knowledgeable cure for the oni's poison. For all their troubles, all they could do as wait.

True to her word, the healer had been right about Kagome's spiritual powers. The miko's aura seemed to scream, as it battled with the poison. Every time her aura seemed to fade, it would regain its strength bursting forth with light that touched every corner of the hut, then fade down to its normal brilliance. Kaede had given Kagome a sedative, in hopes that without her soul concentrating on her consciousness, it could focus all of its energy back into fighting the poison. The real battle, however was InuYasha's rage. From the moment he regained his youkai blood, it had been all but impossible to keep him seated in the hut, where his wife needed him most. He wanted to help, and upon realizing there was nothing for him to do but wait, he grew incensed, yowling in frustration. After some time, he seemed to gather a sense of control, returning to his wife's side and not moving for hours.

Miroku and Sango had efficiently managed to run the small household in Kagome' ghostly absence. Sango prepared food for the hanyou and with Rin overseeing Kagome's wellbeing, bounded off to gather her own "litter" for dinner. Early in the evening, the houshi had succeeded in dragging InuYasha outside fearing that his gaze being fixated on Kagome's listless figure for hours on end, could not be healthy for InuYasha, physically or mentally. His spirit hinted at damaged and the houshi made it his business to tend to InuYasha. For once in his entire friendship with the hanyou, the houshi did not have to physically best InuYasha. Without much force he managed to dislocate InuYasha from Kagome side and get him down to the river, for he was still covered in Kagome's blood.

The hanyou sat upon the freezing current of the river, ensconced on a small boulder, his feet dangling off the side and into the water. Not really feeling anything, really, but quiet panic and deep seeded frustration. He was fighting a monster he couldn't' slay with his own hands, a foe that seemed unbeatable. Kagome was his very existence and he hadn't the first step what to do without her. If he had a clue, one inkling of an idea, he'd do it without hesitation. He'd give her his very next breath if that's all it required for her to wake up. For her to be okay. The messengers still weren't' back, and he battled with the idea to visit the villages himself, but feared to leave his miko's side.

He peered down at the fish swimming around and away from his feet. Away. The fish left his side and swam upstream. Away. The word caused him pause, caused his mind to breech a time when Kagome had been snatched from him before. His soul lurched at the notion that she could be snatched away again. There hadn't been enough time shared with him. This isn't the eternity he was speaking off, the eternity he he promised to her. He looked around, wild eyed and panicked. In one swift movement, he jumped to his feet, disregarding his undressed state of just his fundoshi, and nothing else. He searched the elusive air for resolution, trying to snatch a solution with his claw, lashing through the wind.

When the unyielding air held no answer, a primitive unbroken growl broke his countenance, his lip peeled back over his fangs. The anger from the sound caught Miroku's ear, who had his back slightly turned from InuYasha as he washed the blood out of his suikan and hakama pants. Laying the clothes back to the ground and turning without words, the houshi lifted the hem of his robes and walked towards the embankment of the river. Ignoring the cold sting of the freezing water, Miroku slowly stepped through the churning currents to reach the boulder his friend had marooned himself on.

"InuYasha, my dear friends, now isn't the time to do this to yourself,"

InuYasha in his crazed state, whipped around to stare Miroku face on, ready to take his frustrations out of the him. Intensifying his growl, InuYasha rapidly reach across himself and out, his fist connecting with the Miroku's unprotected cheek. Falling backwards off the rock and into the river current, Miroku looked silently back up at InuYasha, his hand rubbing the quickly bruising skin at his cheek. Miroku inhaled a cautious yet calm breath, bringing his hands down to his side and pushed himself back up. Slow to anger, the houshi continued.

"This situation, with Kagome-same, wasn't of your doing. I need for you to understan.." Miroku speech was interrupted mid sentence as another punch snapped his head backwards. He again landed in the shallow banks of the river; his head falling completely back, it briefly dunking under the water and back up again.

"Who the fuck are you to tell me this isn't my doing? You weren't there, idiot! Were you?" The hanyou barked his words out, his face mere inches from Miroku. "NO. Not a single FUCKING one of us was there for her. NO ONE. NOT. EVEN. ME!"

At InuYasha's outburst, Miroku suddenly lifted himself of the water a second time and drew his own arm back. With his palm wide, mushed InuYasha's face backwards. The hanyou's steps faltered on the slippery slope of the boulder and his unreadiness to receive any kind of blow, caused InuYasha to plunk into the riverbed.

He stood over InuYasha, a indeterminable look on his countenance. "As I was saying. This isn't the InuYasha I know," Miroku kept his eye on the hanyou for any sudden movements from his lowered position. "The hanyou I know would be strong and fearless for Kagome. Not wallowing in this hell of self loathing or allowing your anger to get the best of you." Miroku crossed his arms as he continued to peer down at his fallen friend

"It is true, InuYasha, you were human that night. What you fail to realize is, quite simply. That is who you are. I need you to understand that you could no more control last night's events then you could control the moon."

With that he sunk down and placed a hand on InuYasha's shoulder, to which InuYasha sharply pulled away. Unruffled by the hanyou's angry action, Miroku lowered his eyes, and with his expression sober and intense, he simply said a prayer for InuYasha. When he was done, he nodded at the hanyou's look of surprise, who was taken aback at the action of his friend. He walked away from the boulder and towards the shore, reminding InuYasha of his clothes. To which InuYasha remembered his undressed state and with quick footwork, he stepped towards the bank of the river, and his freshly washed clothes. As Miroku reached the edge of the forest ahead of InuYasha, he once again called out to his friend ."You have a son to think about."

*****

Kagome lowered her gaze to ground past the fingers she had been studying. It was a simple enough question to answer. _Why don't I want to die. Simple. No one wants to die until they are ready. I haven't spent enough time with my family. Lifetime, eternity...those were the words Inuyasha and I promised each other. Then there is my son. Akihiko. _

Kagome never figured herself to be the mothering type. Her mother of course, was the best mother a woman could ask for. Sweet temperament and endless amounts of love for her and Souta. Even after their father died, her mother remained sweet, hiding her own grief from them, so that they had someone strong to lean on. But shortly after Kagome's return to this era, and even shorter after her eventful union to InuYasha, she became pregnant. She'd never been so frightened in her life.

She'd assisted Kaede on numerous child birth's in her miko training, but it was now HER turn. How safe would it be, how hard and painful. And even afterwards, how good of a mother would she be? That scared her more than anything in the world. Not even her staring Naruku face to face had chilled her bones as much as the thought of being a terrible mother. No knowing what to do or what to say to this small person who depended solely on her and her husband.

But the moment Akihiko was born, all questions flew out the window.

"Love the Child, and that's all they'll ever need" She remember fondly someone whispering that to her as they placed her little boy in her arms.

Kagome looked back at her soul, who was patiently waiting for an answer, giving her time to figure it out for herself. "My family. My husband and my child. They are the reasons I live and they are the reasons I don't want to die".

"Good. That's all you need. A single point of concentration. Concentrate on that, concentrate on the love, for it is one of the strongest emotions we have as humans. Use it to heal yourself."

With that Kagome closed her eyes and smiled as thoughts of her loving hanyou and beautiful child flowed throughout her mind.

_****_

"Akihiko...." InuYasha's face fell again. His steps seemed to be faltering with every footfall he made. Earnestly he accepted Miroku's words and subsequently his "punishment". He needed someone to figuratively slap the hell out of him, and instead he received a literal grant to his wish. Miroku was right. He was a lot stronger than this and needed to be strong for Kagome...and his son.

Akihiko. He felt the traces of the first genuine smile grace his lips, for what seemingly felt like years. His seed, his son. The true definition of his love for and with Kagome, manifested in the pup. He would be seven in the fall, although he still looked to be nothing more than five, barley coming up to InuYasha's knee. Short enough to stay out of most troubles, but tall enough to cause problems for his father.. For little Akihiko loved to wrap himself around the strong legs of his hanyou father whenever he returned from hunt or a youkai extermination.

He fondly remembered the first time he looked down into his son's face. He wasn't expecting the pup to look like him, as he would only have one quarter youkai blood within him. It didn't matter. He could come out completely human and that wouldn't have bothered InuYasha's. Sesshomaru, yes. But never InuYasha. The pride that he felt, flowed within and without him as he glanced down at his son for the first time, it's brightness figuratively radiating in their small home. Akihiko didn't have his father's eyes, instead those of Kagome. What surprised him the most was they also ghosted in appearance to Izayoi's, the eyes of his mother. Dark tresses hinted with silvery highlight framed the top of his head and nestled in those locks where two inu ears, dusted in the same midnight silvery coloring.

In regards to this current situation, InuYasha reckoned himself a lucky man. Akihiko had spent the summer in the Western Lands with his uncle. The relations between him and his older brother had improved slightly, which could probably be contributed to little Akihiko's birth. Almost akin to the type of relationship they once possessed 50 years ago, before he was bound to that tree. One of unforced civility and blood bond. Nothing less and certainly nothing more. The young pup had the great Inu Tashio's blood and for that much, Sesshomaru had decided to do with Akihiko what he didn't do with InuYasha. Instill in him the history and heritage for the Inu. He'd had taken Akihiko every summer since his first year to the Western Lands. One couldn't be quite sure what exactly they did. Sesshomaru wasn't one to explain himself, but the boy has not once complained and a excited smile always graced his countenance once he returned to the arms of his parents.

Soon Sesshomaru once stated, it would be time to turn the pup's training back over to InuYasha, for his father should be the to teach him to hunt and gather.

With those thoughts of his son gracing his memory, InuYasha cracked his knuckles and stood his full height, his back straight and his head tipped up in slight determination. There was no other way. He would be there to comfort his wife, find a way to save the mother of his child, his love, his life. His Kagome had sacrificed herself for his sake and now he needed to find a way to restrengthen his bond to always protect her. Just in a way he wasn't completely sure of. Self pity was not a trait InuYasha was accustomed to and it made not a shard of sense that he would decide now was the appropriate time for him to wallow in despair. So he made his way back to the village, back to her side, strong and true. To be what she needed and always desired from her Inu.


	2. Sameling

Rin waddled, the large bucket full of water too heavy for her, causing her to shift from side to side as she walked down the pathway. Regardless of the weight, she moved in sure steps, without falter towards Kagome's hut. The water, in other instances, would probably have sated Kagome's thirst, but she had not waken from her unconscious state since last night. Kaede reminded Rin that it was her duty to keep Kagome as comfortable as possible, to watch over the miko in her absence. Her state appeared very grim and no one knew what to do or how much longer Kagome could hold on. But Kaede needed not to remind Rin of the current situation. She could tell just by looking at the miko. Her aura had continually dueled with the darkness, fading out and then regaining its brilliance, showing anyone who could see that Kagome held powers unforeseen by most.

Rin kept a calm stoic expression on her face while she was in the hut tending to Kagome. She didn't know how else to react. After seven years under the tender care of Kagome, she had come to think of the miko as somewhat of a mother. But Kagome had that effect, for Rin wasn't the only one who felt that towards Kagome. Sango had once explained to her that Kagome be one of the purest people that she'd ever known. Those surrounding her are naturally pulled to her, and those from afar have heard of priestess's power and her compassion towards demon and human alike. How she'd even married a hanyou. How her smile would warm you when the only feeling you managed to embrace was coldness. How her touch could heal even the most broken of hearts. Even her temper was endearing to some.

Even Shippou. Late at night Shippou would often tell her stories of their travels from years ago; how Kagome cared for him as if he were her own, how she protected him and gave him the tenderness and love that he lost when his parents died. How he'd come to rely on Kagome and couldn't imagine life without her. Those three years without her, were the hardest and in her absence forced him to grow up faster than he desired, solely due to the fact that he'd come to rely on her benevolence as almost a birthright. Rin felt her eyes sting slightly, misting because their thoughts were so very akin to her own. She didn't know what she'd do if Kagome passed. Rin bit back a sob, but straightened her growing frame, and drew in a breath and a plight of strength at the same time. She would be strong. Strong as her Kagome.

She entered the hut, as quietly as she could, for Miroku was at Kagome's side praying diligently; his head bowed in severe concentration. InuYasha had not returned with the houshi, and one could understand. He had stood at her side, never taking a moment to rest; barley eating the food offered to him. He had been that way from the moment he placed her down in their hut. It wasn't until the houshi dragged him to the river to wash his wife's blood from his hands, that he'd snapped out of his fevered concentration on Kagome's wellbeing. The hanyou had murmured throughout the night how he had failed her. Almost as if chanting his sorrows, apologies and guilt, pouring affection into Kagome, willing her to wake up. Everyone in the hut except for InuYasha understood, he wasn't to blame but as of that moment, he was hearing none of it.

Grunting as she reached the corner near the futon, she lowered the bucket. The sharp pain in her back from the labored walk from the working well gradually faded as she extended her arms above her head and stretched. As she brought her arms back down to her sides, she caught sight of her palm. As her gaze lingered on the underside of her hand, she grunted again. Several gashes ran across her hand, stinging when ever she moved her hand. The slightly bleeding hands were the results of the costly mistake she made of grounding the Pyracantha plant with her bare hands, misinterpreting Kaede's orders. She did that often under the study of Kaede. But both Kaede and Kagome were patient teachers. Kagome often would come to her late at night, usually nights InuYasha and Miroku were off doing whatever they called themselves doing. She would for years, sit at Rin's beside and tell stories of her follies when she traveled and when she started her training. She would try to offer her encouragement and advice in the darkness of the Rin's room.

"It isn't an art that comes easy, sweet Rin. For me, it was hard, but because I was gifted with spiritual powers from birth, it is at the same time, easier for me." Kagome would then in short kindly show her in private, the correct technique that Rin had done incorrectly, and patiently waited until Rin grasp the concept completely. "We admire your vigor in learning these arts because you do them solely for the passion to do so, not because they are expected of you. You will get better Rin. I have faith in you".

Fortunately the bleeding was anything to serious, the cuts reopening from the weight of the bucket she had carried. She would wrap some clothe around her distressed hands later after she tended to Kagome.

She looked down over Miroku shoulders onto Kagome's stilled body, she knew that although the hanyou had temporarily left Kagome's side, his love was evident for the priestess. She'd learn that InuYasha had once been very hard pressed to offer up his feelings, but with his marriage to Kagome, he both matured socially and personally. The sorrow and guilt he felt at this moment was evidence of his love for the miko. And although she was surrounded by love, she often wondered if she would one day find someone who would stand by her side, sacrifice any and everything for her well being.

As though by accident, her mind slipped to thoughts of her silent youkai warrior. How she would love for him to be here with her, for she too needed comforting. She quickly scoffed at the idea. He protected her, yes, but compassion? Comforting? Sesshomaru? Highly unlikely.

But once, how she'd enjoy that hard glint of honey and amber to grow soft at her presence. She was a woman now, full of the grace and beauty that grew greater with each passing year. She wasn't that doting child that followed his every move, in her only way to show the taiyouki her affections. Yet every time he visited, every time they spoke, she felt the shadow of the small child, blocking out the light that would allow Sesshomaru to see her true radiance. Oh how she wish he would view her as some of the other men of the village saw her. Inhaling deeply and with a sigh mixed with longing and acceptance, she shook her head, shaking the idea away, as Miroku stood.

"Ah, Rin, you're back. Your diligence in caring for our dear miko warms me greatly." He bowed respectfully and turned to leave the hut. "I'll leave you to continue in her care and I will return shortly"

As the mat of the hut moved back into place, Rin went to Kagome's side. Squatting, she went to dipping a tattered cloth into the retrieved water and ringing it out. She busied herself with positive thoughts for the miko's sake and gingerly ran the wet cloth over Kagome's fevered neck and face. She ran moss oil across Kagome's lips to keep them from cracking and splitting. She then gently pulled at the tattered hadagi covering Kagome's torso, and tended to the wound on her side.

The site where the tentacle had punctured Kagome's skin was angered and burning with infection. But the wound was treatable, and it being a secondary ailment to the poison. The poison that kept Kagome in peril seem to collate at the surface, as it continued to breath life within her wound. Rin took a closer look at the wound, trying to think of some way to draw the poison away from the surface. Suddenly it appeared that the wound pulsed. As if angered by Rin, the poison seemed to come to a tiny rolling boil, festering and popping. A tiny whimper escaped from the unconscious miko and the startled Rin, dipped the rag into the water quickly and in a panic tried to wipe the poison away. Without thinking, she placed her hand on the other side of the thin weathered rag and held it there until the apparent pulsing stopped and Kagome quieted again.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Rin lifted her hand toward the bucket of water again, when in turn her hand suddenly pulsed. Blinking in shock, she stilled her movements.

"Rin imagined that...." the woman's breathing shallowed as she looked at her hand. She drew the courage to finally move, after what seemed like hours of her ceasing movement. Rin extended her hand to stretch when it pulsed again. This time more powerful and not to be ignored. The alarm she felt earlier advanced up her arm and suddenly a fierce pain followed the up her appendage, as if it were traveling up her veins. The pain was white hot as it coursed up her arm and across her chest. Rin opened her mouth to let an frightened scream, but her vision darkened and she went faint before the sound could leave her lips.

****

Kagome eyes shot open as she felt a strange feeling, omen like in its presence. Her anxiety was confirmed as her soul's figure abruptly stood up.

"Shit shit shit shit shit" was all that could be heard from the woman as she paced back in forth in front of Kagome.

"What was that? You obviously felt it too." When the woman continued her pacing and her obscenities, Kagome stood, placing a firm hand on the figure's shoulder. "Would you stop moving for a damn minute and explain! I don't know where I am, or what I'm supposed to do. I can't do this if you plan on losing your mind too!"

With that the figure turned towards Kagome. "Rin. The Poison...."

Kagome fell back a step, shock evident on her face. _Rin has been poisoned too? I can't...I can't help her from here! How am I supposed to help her when I can help myself!....Rin._

Not waiting for an answer or the next step from the obviously distressed figure who stood with her, Kagome fell on her knees and began to concentrate even harder. The faster her body healed the faster she could get to Rin.

*****

InuYasha approached his hut with a glint of determination in his eyes. He heeded Miroku's word. He had scoured the forest floor, for herbs, roots; anything that he could think of. He'd learned quite a bit about the power of the earth from his wife, as she shared her wisdom and love for the miracles this earth could produce, with him. He returned with hunted game and what herbs he could find that would provide maybe an easing of pain, maybe diffuse some of the damage the poison was doing to his wife. Something to stall time while he could come of with a solution. He honestly didn't think the herbs would, if Kaede hadn't suggested it, why would these weeds be of any help. But he held onto hope. He found his houshi friend between that path that connect his hut with Kaede's, with a hand holding a string of beads.

Miroku silently watch InuYasha's approach, seeing the small animal that he held in his grasp. He watched as InuYasha silently walked the path with a feral, almost combative presence. Miroku nodded as he approached InuYasha. Knowing the hanyou wasn't much with words, he kept his silence, but plucked the small animal from InuYasha grasp. In turn he placed a string of prayer beads into InuYasha's hand and forced his fingers to close around them. He stepped aside to allow InuYasha to continue his path towards his house.

As Miroku crossed his path, InuYasha turned to his friend " Miroku...."

With this the houshi turned around to face him again. "I ain't no holy man. I-I'm not sure of what to do with these. But Kagome will understand, awake or not, that these came from a friend". Miroku lips pulled at the corners into a smile and placed a hand on InuYasha's shoulder. "All will be well in due time, my friend. I have faith that this isn't the end of you and Kagome's story" and with that continued down the path too have Sango prepare the kill for dinner.

Miroku made his way towards his home, upon entering he searched instantly for his Sango's embrace. He walked towards the tiny cupboard in their home and pulled out the large cooking kettle, filled it with water and placed it over the unlit fire pit. Placing the small animal next to the pit, he turned and checked the children's room, finding the twins, his son and his two year old daughter quietly playing karuta-kai. They seemed totally engrossed, not aware of anything outside the universe of the game. Not wanting to disturb their peace, he eased back into the main room and made his way to his sleeping room to find Sango.

She was sitting in the corner of the room, her legs pulled protectively into the embrace of her arms, she head laying in the crux between her knees. Upon seeing her husband, she sighed and swiped at the tears staining her face. Miroku seeing the tears, was by her side instantly, gathering her into his lap, his hands holding her face near his heart. He rocked her until the sobs she released quieted. After some time she raised her head to look keenly into his.

"She is my sister, husband. I can't lose her again. Not again". Only her husband knew of Sango's sorrow when Kagome suddenly disappeared those many years ago, only to remain missing for such a long time. She and Kagome had fought side by side, through the thickest of perils and in a flash, her only female companion was gone. Sure, she had the diligent love of her husband, and soon after the love of her children to mend the tiny crack in her heart of Kagome's disappearance. But upon Kagome's resurgence in their lives, did she feel completely at peace. Now faced with the possibility of Kagome leaving, Sango felt only sadness, masked by strength.

Miroku kissed the top of his wife head, soothingly running his hand up and down the length of her back. "Koi, just as I told InuYasha. We must all have faith for Kagome. The battle she is fighting requires us all the put as much love and positive energy into her." He placed another kiss at her crown and with his hand smoothing the frayed hairs of her tresses. "Darling Sango, don't cry, for her sake"

Sniffling she softly eased away from her husband to look back into his face. "You always know the right thing to say." Miroku chuckled and placed a kiss onto the tip of Sango's nose. Placing his forehead to that of his wife, his eyes bore into her and for a moment, he wanted to world to melt away. The demons that drove his hanyou friend to insanity at their current situation was far more understandable then he led on. For if in the same place, he would be beside himself with grief, crazed and insane had Sango fallen ill.

Lost in their own world, nobody noticed the frantic breaths coming from outside of their room. Suddenly a ball of fur whizzed into the room, and Miroku felt it connect with his chest. Looking down at, he saw Shippou, with a deranged look mixed with stricken panic blasted across his face.

"RIN! I can't find..." The fox youkai struggled to catch his breath, it seemed impossible with him in the throes of a panic attack. Miroku placed the fox onto the floor and placed both of his hands on Shippou's tiny shoulder. "Breath Shippou".

The tiny fox inhaled and gasped out "Rin...InuYasha found her unconscious on his floor next to Kagome. We can't find Kaede. Please come!" And with that the fox demon shrugged out of Miroku grasp, pointing towards the door. Grunting when the houshi didn't move, Shippou sprinted out of the room and out of the house.

"Kami!" He threw a look at Sango, silently asking if she were okay. Reading his eyes, her face brightened softly, reassuring the housi. "Go."

Miroku stood and directed Sango to stay and that he would be back shortly. Running back up the path towards Kagome and InuYasha's house, Miroku noticed something but kept running. In the distance, across the wide expanse of the fields and towards the sky, a star brighter than usually seemed to be drawing closer and closer to the village, but at the time he had not a moment to spare to investigate. Instead he bounded around the corner and entered InuYasha's house to find him leaning over now the now unresponsive Rin. "What happened?"

Words left InuYasha as he turned to Miroku. "I-I don't know. When I got here, she was like this. She looks just like K..K'gome. Look at her hand."

Miroku crossed the room, scooping the faint young woman into his arms and placed her next to Kagome on the futon. He did as InuYasha asked and took a closer look at her hand. As he turned the palm towards him, he flinched as several angry wounds across Rin's hand stared back at him. There were several open wounds and a sickly green aura emitted from the wounds.

"The oni's poison? But...but how is that so?" Looking at Kagome, Miroku called out, "Show me Kagome's wound InuYasha". Gently peeling back the bottom hem of her hadagi, InuYasha revealed the gashes to Kagome's side. The green aura being emitted from Kagome wound matched Rin.

"Rin seems to have been poisoned by the same poison afflicting poor Kagome. I can't be sure, but it seems that tending to Kagome with her hands in such conditions, may prove costly for young Rin." Growling in frustration, InuYasha stood, curling his hand into a tight fist at his sides. "Where the hell is Kaede?!" At that moment InuYasha whipped around, his nose to the air as he sniffed. He knew that smell. Looking down at Rin, he could only fathom the situation that was just outside his door.

"Sesshomaru."

In all of his arrogance and abundance in stoic manner, Sesshomaru appeared at the doorway of InuYasha's hut, his gaze ignoring everyone in the room except the small woman that laid at the feet of InuYasha. In a whurr of light and fur, Sesshomaru was at Rin's side, her small uninjured hand gathered into his much larger one. Finding impurity in the scent of the woman, he tightened his grasp on her hand and without taking his eyes off of her face, an uncharacteristic growl filling the silence of the room "What happened to this Rin?" When the silence continued, he snapped his head up towards InuYasha. "This Sesshomaru demands to know what happened to Rin!"

InuYasha pushed down his irritation for his brother, who was "demanding" things of him in his home. But as he cast a look at the woman his brother was possessively protecting, he couldn't but help be reminded of the gravity of the situation. Sighing, the hanyou shook his head. "We don't know, alright? All we know is that the poison that Kagome has in her, is now in Rin's hand."

Sesshomaru's amber eyes darkened, rimmed in fury as he continued to stare at his half brother. " I leave this woman in your care, and you allow this to happen?"

The annoyance he felt a minute ago, bubbled to the top. InuYasha scoffed at his brother. "ALLOW this to happen?" His gaze touch his ailing wife, furious that his brother was keeping him from tending to her, he spat out, "ALLOW this to happen? N'body ALLOWED this to happen to the wench. It just did, Sesshomaru. Just like it JUST happened to Kagome."

Finding the excuse, fallible, he scooped Rin in his arms and headed towards the door. "Worthless."

"I don't have time to stand around arguing with you Sesshomaru. Leave if you want. I have better things to do". InuYasha turned back to his wife.

At that moment a small voice broke the the heated argument of the brothers. "Mama??" Akihiko's small body rounded the corner and greeted the sight of his mother, fevered and bloodied on the futon of his home. "Mama? MAMA!?" The little boy face broke into small pieces and tears sprung to his eyes. The tears fell unchecked, blurring his vision but it did not hinder him from breaking past Sesshomaru and towards his mother.

"Akihiko! No!" InuYasha bounded across the room and scooped Akihiko up in his arm, bringing the child to his chest and his sight away from his wife's still body. Gathering the child, he ran out of the hut, not once loosening his grip on his son. His son struggled to be released from his father's grasp. He didn't understand why his father ran from the room. He wanted to know what was happening to his mother.

"WHY'IS MAMA BLEEDIN', PAPA? WHAT'S WRONG WIT' MAMA?"

The young child cried into his father's chest. Finally feeling the weight of the world on his shoulders, all the stress of the situation he thought he'd finally got a hold of, were now bubbling under the surface. He held his child away from him, then back closer to nuzzle his face close to him. He had no idea how to explain this to his child. He had just seen his mother in a condition that probably scared him more than anything. InuYasha had forgotten that Sesshomaru had Akihiko in tow as he traveled back to the village.

He walked for a matter of moments, finding himself finally at the root branches of the Goshinboku. Lowering himself to the ground with Akihiko pulled back into his chest, he placed one clawed hand on the back of his child's head. From his chest, deep soothing vibrations rumbled and in a reassuring whisper InuYasha spoke to sobbing youth. "You have to be strong for your mama, musko. Can you do that for me? Be strong for her?" He could still smell the sorrow in his son's scent, but he felt the tears had come to a stop.

Sesshomaru, with Rin still gathered in his arms, appeared outside of the hut, and still looked determined to take Rin with him, wherever he was going.

Miroku finally finding his voice in the suffocating atmosphere of the situation called out to Sesshomaru. "Unless you are sure that you know of a cure for her ailment, flying off with her may very well seal her doom. We are quite sure, at the very moment, that the messengers of this village are solving the mystery of Kagome's illness. And in turn, solving the mystery of Rin's illness"

"And sitting here waiting for a cure that may or may not exist, is your plan, Houhi?"

Miroku nodded his head. "Its the only course of action we have, Sesshomaru." With that he approached the youkai, and glanced down at Rin, and then back at the suffering Kagome in the corner behind him. Her aura still glowed in the corner, she was still fighting and that was good. But Rin didn't have Kagome's spiritual powers, so Rin had nothing to fight with. He was sure, without the youkai asking, that Sesshomaru already knew this. Sesshomaru stood in place, his body at complete attention and rigid as wood, until he walked back inside, making his way to the window opening inside InuYasha's home and took a seat, with Rin still body in tow. With his head bowed in concentration, Sesshomaru kept his eyes focused on Rin and no one else .

"Sesshomaru-sama?" Rin risked opening her eyes and tilted her head upwards towards the man that had her in his embrace. She had no idea how long she had been sleep, but when she awoke she was equally surprised and pleased at finding her knight had come to her side. His eyes were locked on hers, and if Rin wasn't mistaken, the lines of worry were splashed across his face; an emotion she never seen before from the youkai. The stinging pain in her hand caused her to spark fully awake. She sharply looked down at the appendage, suddenly remembering. She tried to raise herself to sit upright in Sesshomaru's lap. But it proved to be futile, as her body was entirely too weak to move.

"Rin. Stop."

Sesshomaru looked back down at Rin who seemed to want nothing more than to move from the position of sitting in his lap, but upon his command, ceased her movements. "You're much too weak.". Miroku crossed the room from where he and InuYasha had been tending to Kagome, and gently took a hold of Rin's injured hand.

"Rin, the poison from Kagome's wound entered your bloodstream, through the cuts on your hand. Your situation is still very perilous. You mustn't try to move." With that he placed her hand back down and stood. "We just received word that Kaede has returned. Maybe this will lead to some type of remedy for this situation."

As if the mention of her name conjured her spirit, Kaede stepped through the door. InuYasha, not able to control his anger for the older healer abandoning his wife's side without alerting him or anyone else for that matter, lashed out at her.

"Where. Were. You?", he gashed out through clenched teeth. He honed his glare onto her, pinpointing her with supposed guilt. "You only have one damn job and its to hea...". Kaede crossed the room in speed not witnessed from her for years and stood before InuYasha.

"Silence!" Her eyes softened as she noticed the look of desperation masked by anger in InuYasha's golden orbs. "I do apologize for leaving her side, but it was for the sake of her life, nothing else. I left Rin here, in my stead. There wasn't much we could so _without_ me leaving."

Inhaling and slowly releasing the breath, the look of contempt fell from his face. InuYasha sighed and returned his gaze back to his wife.

She looked so weak. So much the opposite that was the very lively spirit she was. All he wanted to do was will her life, for her to live. He never knew fear as he did at these very moments. She'd been down before...but never this close to death. He concentrated his gaze back to Kaede. "Oi, old woman. You said for the sake of her life. Tell me..."

Kaede stilled herself and inhaled. She closed her eyes. "The village east of here. They claimed knowledge of the youkai, confirming that the seal they had placed on it's tomb, broke, allowing it to roam free. The seal was on the western border of the village and instead of attacking the village, it headed west, to our small village. They claimed the youkai that attacked our village is a type of plant youkai called Urushiol. Rare, but not unheard of. Its historical origin go back further than that of the village." Kaede grunted as she lowered herself to the ground, her gaze never leaving the fire pit. Finally shifting her eyes from the flames to look up InuYasha. "This youkai is the vegetation of hell. It is an hell plant."

InuYasha threw out a exasperated sigh at how the old woman drew out the story.

"Keh! It's a hell plant. Got it! K'gome. Rin. How do we heal them?" Miroku placed a reassuring hand on the hanyou's shoulder, hoping to calm him. The more they knew about the plant, the better the could access a cure.

"Three types of venom are known from the Urushiol. One from its fang, one from its claws and one from its tentacle. Fang and claw are treatable, the village offered me this liquid as cure." Kaede held out a tiny vile of clear liquid, balancing it within her palm. "Tentacle poison...is treatable too, but the poison of the plant youkai works in a mysterious way. It needs a anti-venom, luckily that anti-venom is blood that contains an amount, any amount.... of youkai blood."

"THAT'S IT? Damn it! I'll sliced off my whole arm, give ya' all the blood you need!" InuYasha paced towards Kagome, pulling his suikan off his back. He gathered her head into his lap, pressing several kisses to her brow before burying his face into the crook of her neck. The pink tint of her aura enveloped him, as if gaining a bit of strength from his presence. "You hear that K'gome? You hear?"

"InuYasha..." With that Kaede stood once more, and with baited steps, hobbled over to the hanyou who hovered over his wife with an intensifying focus.

"What in Kami's name are you waiting for, you old bat!"

"Child, hear my words. I meant every word when I spoke of mysterious ways when concerning this type of youkai. Listen to what I'm about to say very carefully." She lowered herself beside InuYasha and the priestess. With slighted pressure, she grabbed at hanyou's chin, leveling his face with hers. "The Urushiol's poison...mixed with the blood of a youkai...will change her blood."

Inuyasha growing tired of her talking in circles, snatched back his face from her weathered fingers "Wha' the hell is that 'sposed to mean! Who cares if her blood is changed. Will this save her life?"

Not a beat later, Sesshomaru's snort could be heard from the other side of the room. "You were never the smart one, were you whelp?" InuYasha redirected his angry stare to Sesshomaru. "Damn you, Sesshomaru! Shut. UP!"

"This isn't the time to be dense, although I'm starting to think you can't help it." As a rare flash of frustration crossed his feature, Sesshomaru's pupils bore heavenward, as he rolled his eyes at his brother. "Think, you ignorant mutt! What separates you from me, what is the difference?"

Matching his brother's stare, Sesshomaru glared at his brother. Finally giving up at the obvious answering leaving Inuyasha, the taiyoukai bit out.

"Our blood."

Miroku eyes went wide as realization dawn on him. He now fully understood the implications of Kaede's words. How the cure Kagome needed held a whisper of finality, as things would never be the same from the moment she was healed. "InuYasha. Your blood will cure Kagome, that I'm sure of. But it will also CHANGE Kagome along with her blood. Your blood will run in her veins." Placing his hand at his chin in contemplation, he too crossed the room and stood at the foot of Kagome's futon. "She will become hanyou, InuYasha."


	3. Changeling

For the second time, Kagome's eye flew wide open. The anxiety that she felt before raced throughout her chest, causing her heart to beat faster, her palms sweating. She turned her head sharply to the figure that sat beside her, who had in the meantime regained most of her senses. Enough so, to have had told her Rin's condition. She had not ingested as much poison as Kagome, only a transfer into her bloodstream. She still needed to be cured, but unlike Kagome's body, she regained her consciousness.

Now she waited for another answer. Kagome had come to learn in the short amount of time that whenever she felt this worriness creep on her, that something was happening in her world. But the figure to her right was the only one who could communicate to her exactly what was transpiring, for Kagome had been completely separated, while her soul had not been. "What is it this time..."

The figure turned to Kagome, her eyes softer than she had experienced the whole entire time. Kagome still found it strange to be so close to an image of herself, and it not be Kikyo. But she neverminded the thought, shaking it from her head, and concentrated on what the figure had to say.

"They found a cure, miko. A very strong, potent cure that should work almost instantly".

Kagome jumped up from her sitting position, a bright smile splashed across her face. She moved to give a whoop of joy, when she noticed the figure still sitting, her expression was of apprehension.

"Listen to me Kagome. This cure, this remedy to this solution is one not without cost. The question I'm going to ask you is of great seriousness."

Kagome lowered herself back to the ground, her eyes locked on her soul's figure. "What is the matter? Why shouldn't we be happy about this? My body..._.our_ body is going to be cured..."

"You love your son and your husband enough to accept whatever they may do in order to save your life?"

Kagome blinked confused at the question. "How could I fault them for that? Unless what they do endangers them or our friends, nothing they could do short of killing themselves for my sake would cause me to resent them for their decisions."

The figure inhaled, releasing the breath slowly, nodding her head. "Well. Good. Be prepared then. Because shortly, you will awaken, and find yourself confronting that dilemma head on....."

****

Time cracked and split as the culmination of the last few moments racked his brain, the words finally hitting his ears. "A hanyou?" He blinked as if he still wasn't completely assured in the meaning. "A hanyou."

This time Kaede spoke up. "Yes, child. She will change." Electricity charged the atmosphere as a a growl cut through the air. Every conscious head in the room, albeit InuYasha's whipped towards Sesshomaru, fearing the taiyoukai finally losing his temper. Miroku's eyebrow inched high as he noticed what was happening.

Sesshomaru held little concession to the hesitation of his brother. He wasn't going to sit around contemplating the ramifications of his actions. As long as this led to his Rin's return to perfect health, he cared not for any change in her. Her cared not if she resented him or her new form, whatever that may be. He was her protector, regardless if he asked for the position or not. How many times had this girl stared death up close and managed to escape. How could he not allow her to slip from death's grasp again, when he held the very cure in his veins?

Holding the young woman closer to him, he gathered his fingers up and into the flesh of his palm, his claws piercing the skin there. With a graceful and agile swoop, he grabbed at Rin's hand and held his freshly bleeding palm to Rin's. Threading his fingers with hers, he lifted his eyes up towards her. Their gazes were locked with one another's, as if the decision made was mutual and unavoidable. The tension in the air was tangible as everyone watched the engrossed couple.

Quick and powerful, a sudden pulse ripped through Rin's hand. Again a caustic and painful spasm traveled up her arm and now instead of the Urushiol's venom traveling her veins, Sesshomaru's equally powerful inu youkai blood flowed. Sesshomaru withdrew his hand, as she began to clutch it close. He took notice of the the pain cascading through Rin's system as she continued to pulse powerfully. The blood flushed against her veins, darkening them momentarily, providing a visual path of its travels. Her skin, reacting to the new element within her, slowly turned splatchy shades of red, as if she were on fire, her lips trembling with effort.

The blood must have hit her core; she balled completely into herself within Sesshomaru's arm, a high pitch shriek pushing past her lips, filling the air with her affliction. As her pitched voice crescendoed, her eyes shot wide, her pupils rimming in red. As the tense moments charged the atmosphere in the hut, Rin's panicked voice, dropped in timbre, sounding akin to a feral grow. Then as suddenly as it began, the pulsing stopped. As the blood seemed to have finished circulating, Rin breathing somewhat calmed as the last spasm of pains coursed out of her system, then she grew faint.

The room fell silent as everyone stood transfixed on the passing course of events. Even InuYasha's gaze had left Kagome's to witness Rin's "changing".

Sesshomaru, laced with anticipation, reached out to carefully unfold the panting woman. His gaze silently sought out her face, searching for any change or any sign of some sort of transformation. He imagined a sort of metamorphosis, as he blood was staunch with youkai. But nothing. No visible signs of any kind of change.

"What is the meaning of this?" Covertly he reached for her hand, turning her palm over. The gashes seemed to have healed themselves in that short moment of time. But that could just be a testament to the healing powers of his lineage. Kaede spoke softly, still in a disarranged sorts.

"We'll just have to see after she has rested, Sesshomaru-sama, but it seems to have had some affect on her."

Struggling with being completely out of control of the situation, a feeling Sesshomaru knew little about, caused him pause. He tensed his body to rise and leave the confines of the small hut, but feared jousting the now sleeping Rin. He contemplated holding her in his arms until she woke, but figured that it couldn't have been as comfortable for her as it was for him. He wished comfort for his former ward. Grabbing at his moko, he pulled it back off his shoulder and ,placed it to the side of him. The giant cascade of downy fur laid somewhat flat to the floor, enough to provide a makeshift pillowing for Rin's young body. Gently, twisting his body, he laid her down, his eyes softening at the somewhat peaceful look on her face.

Sesshomaru then turned to his brother, his eyes unreadable under the skirt of his bangs. " Little brother. You claim to love this woman, yet upon a testing of this love you hesitate. This Sesshomaru would like to know why."

InuYasha twisted his mouth in despoilment, but the retort quickly fell from his lips. He choose this time to gather Kagome closer to him, bringing his face buried in the crook of Kagome's neck, speaking into it. "Unlike you and that woman, me and this woman share a bond. I didn't hesitate. I took a moment to consider her feelings. Its not easy understanding why this woman loves a hanyou, and its even harder to understand that, at my hands, she will become one."

"Fool. Hesitating on the grounds of her feelings will leave you with a dead mate." Growling through clenched teeth, Sesshomaru was in rare form as he threw heated words towards his brother's unturned back. "You never fail to amaze me at the boundlessness of your stupidity. If she dies, you have no one to blame but yourself."

Miroku, who had moved from the foot of the futon, closer to Rin, placed a comforting hand on InuYasha's shoulder. "You know, my good hanyou friend, I hate to admit this aloud. But your brother is right. You are her fighting chance. You must for her sake, push your feelings aside, and those you think she may hold, aside."

It was InuYasha's turn to growl as he tore his head from Kagome's flesh. "For Fuck's sake, will the lot of you SHUT UP! Do you not think I KNOW that? You'd think I'd be stupid enough to hesitate longer than a second for her?" With that he lifted the sleeve of his left arm, to reveal that he had already placed an equally bleeding right hand to Kagome's side, his blood spilling over her wound. "Its not that I haven't tried....She ain't responding."

****

Light suddenly erupted at Kagome's side. Kagome shielded her eyes to the brightness, confusing raking her face. Kagome had been immersed in concentrating for her body's sake, when all of a sudden the light appeared. Then she felt her own body pulse.

She'd never felt anything this foreign before. Sure she had seen her husband's own body pulse, even Tessiaga pulse. But the feeling that coursed through her was strange. Her pulse raced and in a panic she turned towards the light where her soul's figure should have been siting.

"What in the worlds is going on! Why am I pulsing?" When she heard no answer she really began to panic. Then as suddenly as the light appeared, it dissaperaed, leaving Kagome completely alone in the large white abyss. She frantically paced to her left and right, looking for the figure.

"I don't...I don't know what to do without you! You have to come back. You have to! Where...What am I supposed to do. WHERE ARE YOU!! Come ba...."

It started at her side, a fierce white hot pain boiling there, over and over intensifying with each passing second. Kagome looked down at her side, seeing blood seep through her clothing. The pain now had surfaced, and as the miko reached for her side, the pain shot through her veins, coursing and swirling through her system. Kagome groaned against the pain, clutching to her side, but when she no longer could stand against the burning sensation, she feel to her knees.

Crying out into the whiteness of the room, she felt herself becoming nauseous with the biting, piercing pain attacked her body.

_I'm dying. Oh gods, I'm dying. Akihiko.....InuYasha...._

"Listen to me Kagome" a voice seemingly manifesting itself out of thin air above and all around Kagome, as she writhered in pain on the floor. It was the voice of herself....her soul's voice.

"Help.....me" the miko grunted through clenched teeth...."I don't...I don't want to die."

"You've become a changeling Kagome. This is the cure, that I warned you about. It will hurt, greatly, but let it do what its supposed to do. Stop fighting it, and the pain will lessen.....Let go Kagome."

"Stop talking and HELP ME...oh gods it hurts...Please"

"Please concentrate on my words Kagome. Let go! You have to trust me. If you don't, then you will die."

Kagome wrapped her arms around her center, the pain radiating out in painful waves and each pulse intensified the agony. Not understanding what letting go meant, she did the only thing she could do. The only thing she had been doing since she got here. Concentrate on her love for her family. She _had_ to see them again. Her body hummed from within, her aura taking over the light in the room until it tinted at a now reddish pink. It surrounded her completely, caressing her, trying to soothe her pains.

Then the room went black and Kagome went faint.

****

"My blood ain't good enough for her. It's not strong enough. The shit is not working." Panicking the hanyou turned back towards his brother. "Sesshomaru. You. YOU have to help her. Your blood helped Rin, it can help Kagome". The taiyoukai snorted, but did not move to Kagome's side. "This is your battle, pup I dare not spill my blood for the wife of my brother, when he is capable of saving her himself".

"To hells with you Sesshomaru! If I was capable she would be....

Then InuYasha stilled. Apprehension took over as he dared to hope. He looked down at his hand, sure in his belief that he felt a pulse travel through it. Slowly he lifted his hand from his wife's side, but when he saw no blood, no traces of poison, his eyes snapped wide open. Another powerful pulse rocketed from her , her back arching as it traveled through her. His eyes instantly sought out Kagome's face, twisting his head around so he could look down on her. And just as he did, the aftershock of yet another pulse hit Kagome, her eyes flying open, yet closing a short moment later.

It was as if someone had came into the room and colored Kagome's face back to its original color. Her cheeks were red from exertion, but all the while her skin no longer held the pasty dank look of pain, but flush and alive. It was then that he noticed her aura had changed too. Instead of its customary pinkish glow, it now had turned a darker magenta color, obviously a symbol of their bloods mixing.

"It. Worked?"

Miroku hesitated none as he flew to Kagome's side, with Kaede following closely behind him. The monk took a minute to look over Kagome's form, not sure if, unlike Rin, he would see some kind of change. Nothing.

Kaede chose this time to speak up, her eyes shifting from Rin's to Kagome's now sleeping form.

"The only thing we can do is wait. Obviously the wounds have healed themselves, and the poison seems to have left their system. But not until the have awoken will we see what lies for Kagome and Rin."


	4. Gripeling

InuYasha spared a glance at Rin who sat just outside of his hut, a stoic Sesshomaru only inches away. A bright smile brightened Rin's face as she sat still, her movements slow in her recovery.

Rin had awoken. But not Kagome.

InuYasha couldn't take it anymore. She hadn't moved in hours. He had ran a whole into the floor of his hut, in a pacing fit waiting for her to at least crack an eyelid. But nothing. The only thing Kagome had done since he offered his blood over as a cure, was tint the area around her with her aura. No movement, not a sound...nothing, while Rin recovered more of her life spirit as each minute passed. He could only think of one thing.

Again, his blood, wasn't strong enough. That angered InuYasha to the ends of hell. How could his love be enough for Kagome, but not his blood. Were the gods to curse him by and by with this, to have Kagome's life so close only to be stalled by the one thing it had taken him so long to accept? Was this his punishment? InuYasha's feral growl broke past his lips, he lowered to the grown, his raged filled power erupting as he punched through the wood planked floor of his home.

Shippou who had been doing his best to behave and stay out of everyone's way, flew into the hut, trying to figure out exactly what was going on with his father figure hanyou. His eyes were lined with shock as he witnessed InuYasha, bloodied fist pounding into the ground repeatedly. Shippou ran to his side, wrapping himself around InuYasha's offending arm, trying to cease its movements.

"What are you doing! Stop it InuYasha! Your hurting yourself!"

InuYasha looked down to his arm, not even noticing the small fox youkai wrapped around his arm until he heard him speak up. "Get off of me Shippou.... I know what I'm doing?"

"You do? Because to me it looks like you're destroying yours and KAGOME'S home." Shippou squeezed tighter when it felt as if InuYasha had tensed to strike the ground again. InuYasha paused at the mention of Kagome's name, causing Shippou to look up at him.

"Your face? You were losing yourself to your Youkai blood....InuYasha...."

The hanyou blinked before bringing his hands to his face, instantly seeing his fist covered in blood. He hadn't felt himself slip, but he did feel as if the anger had elevate and surrounded him, as if it had its own personality. But nothing close to him losing himself to his youkai blood. He remembered everything.

InuYasha felt him cracking at this point. He was losing his ground, for he wasn't losing himself to his blood, but his mind. He felt as if he were going insane. Crazed at being separated from his mate for so long. Yet she was right there beside him, so close he could touch her, but saddened at the thought that she wouldn't be able feel it....feel him. And in a rare moment of vulnerability, InuYasha turned to kit, his eyes downcast.

"Whats wrong with her Shippou..."

Shippou's grasp on the hanyou's arm slacked, and as he slid to the ground, he couldn't help but concentrate on InuYasha's eyes. He had only seen those eyes twice, both only emerging when he thought he'd lost Kagome. But he didn't know what to say to InuYasha. He didn't know why Kagome hadn't regained consciousness, he couldn't formulate thoughts past his own grief.

"You...you just gotta give her some time 'Yash. You did your best to heal her. Now its up to her...". Shippou slid all the way down to the ground, careful not to brush against InuYasha's injured hand. "But you can't do this to yourself. She's going to need you when she wakes up. Not if. But when." Shippou smiled, and with an aura that seem wiser than his years, he quietly left InuYasha to his own musings.

InuYasha stared down at his bloodied hand. He ignored the sting from the cuts he inflicted himself, but he couldn't ignore the embarrassment he felt. He was failing miserably at controlling his emotions, something over the last few years he thought he was beginning to master. But obviously not. But who could blame him? He was miserable.

Realizing Shippou had left, InuYasha scooted over to Kagome's still form. Ironically this was the only time he'd actually been alone with just her. He looked down at her, sighing to himself. Lovingly he ran his hands down her chilled arms, anchoring himself so he could pull her slightly into his lap. He lowered his head, so that his words were just for her, regardless if she could actually hear them or not.

"Kagome? I'm here Kagome. Can you hear me? Please wake up...I-...I need you to wake up." He inhaled her scent, noticing it had changed somehow, but nothing that erased that she was Kagome and she was _his _mate. "Please..."

He noticed she didn't respond, although he was wishing against a hope and a prayer that she would respond. He wasn't surprised when she didn't, albeit still very discouraged.

"You remember? You remember what you said to me the night we were joined? That you'd never leave me again. And here you are...gone..." He snuggled deeper into her, his grip tightening as thought if he loosened it, he would lose her forever.

"I remember that one time you were _so_ mad at me for not waking you before me and Miroku went off on some random youkai extermination. I had never seen you so angry...and I've seen you VERY angry before, koi. I had never in my life had been so glad you'd removed the subjigation spell. I thought you were going to sit me to the seventh hells. But the look in your eyes when I walked back into our home, safe, and you threw your arms around me...."

As hard as InuYasha tried, he couldn't bit back the sob that had made its way past his lips. "Gods! You can't do this to me, anata. You can't! I won't allow it. You can't leave me. YOU HEAR ME!"InuYasha cared not who heard him, but he stayed there, with his love in his arms as he cried out to her over and over again, tears flowing unchecked.

Rin sat just outside of the hut, bearing witness to InuYasha's heartfelt confession. It was one thing she had noticed instantly, her hearing. She could hear every whispered word InuYasha left in his wife's ear, and her heart broke. This wasn't how it was supposed to be. After Naraku, after Kagome came back, after EVERYTHING that had happened, they were supposed to be in the throes of their happily ever after. How did it come to this?

She wished for anything but Kagome's death. Why hadn't she came back yet? Had the poison been too powerful for her, had she taken in too much? She let go a broken sigh, not sure what else she could do to help the hanyou and his mate.

Sensing her distress, Sesshomaru directed his gaze towards Rin. The things he failed to notice when she remarkable healed were replaced by subtle changes in her. They very small but nonetheless he noticed them. How could he not when before the change he had memorized every hair on her head, every glint of color in her large beautiful eyes?

For starters, she was more alert than he'd ever seen her. With every passing sound, he'd witnessed her head snapping to and fro, trying to pinpoint the source. The second thing he noticed, which a person would only noticed if they stood close to her [which he was sure he wouldn't' easily allow] was her smell. It had shifted. A scent he couldn't place, but nonetheless intoxicating, one he could get use to smelling. The last thing was her eyes. They still retained their dark brown color but were rimmed in the faintest amber color. That off all things he found the most intriguing. Almost to the point where he smiled when she laughed, her eyes dancing back and forth.

But now as he looked at her, he didn't see the same joy he'd witnessed when she realized she was healed. He saw the sadness and a sense of loss when he gazed at her. And he didn't know what to do. He was a great taiyoukai of the Western Lands...yet he didn't know how to erase the sorrow from her. That in turn caused a very unfamiliar emotion to creep into Sesshomaru's chest.

"You don't have to look so bewildered Lord Sesshomaru. Its not like I'm going to cry. Well maybe I am. I'm out of tears it seems, so maybe there's hope that the well has dried up. I'm just..She doesn't deserve this. I just want her to wake up. I want her to wake up so bad."

Sesshomaru, surprised that she noticed him watching her, looked as if he wanted to say something, but instead closed the space between him and her, placing a hand on her shoulder. Rin jumped at this, not used to such an intimate contact between her and the taiyoukai.

"Don't be so skittish, Rin. This Sesshomaru..." He paused, gathering his thoughts.

Rin looked up and the hand on her shoulder, a questioning smirk playing across her face. "This Sesshomaru, what?"

"This Sesshomaru was concerned. That is all." He started to lower his hand from her shoulder when she reached across and stopped him by laying her hand over his. "This Rin...appreciates your concern, my lord. She also wishes to thank you over and over in any way that she can, for saving her life....YET again. How am I to repay your kindness?"

A thought sprung to Sesshomaru head, one he'd been contemplating for some time now, but didn't wish to swim in the temptation that the answer to his musing would bring about. Yet at one point or another, he knew that things would change soon, and a time would come when he would have to either fight or take flight. And he was Sesshomaru. He always fought.

"We'll wait until you have full use of your strength, Young Rin. Then we will see." And with that, Sesshomaru turned to walk towards the wooded area that surrounded his younger brother's house.

"You know, this Rin isn't so young anymore, my lord". Sesshomaru turned to see Rin looking over her shoulder, back at him, something playfully wicked dancing in her eyes. She then turned to walk back into the hut.

"This Sesshomaru knows..." and he walked away.

****

Kagome had been running for what seemed like hours now. She'd blacked out and when she returned back to whatever consciousness her body had allowed her, she noticed she wasn't' alone. No, it wasn't her soul's figure, that served as a companion. But a shadow, dark and ominous, hunting her through the nothingness she was trapped in.

She was tired. At any minute she felt as if her legs were going to give out, and she would fall, becoming prey to whatever this_ thing_ was, that had decided she was good hunt. She had no arrows, even her spiritual powers had failed in casting a shield around her. So, she had no choice but to continue running.

The voice, that by this time was all so familiar rang out in the darkness.

"Why are you running, miko?"

_First she tells me what I've become, a hanyou. Then she tells me I'm no longer human. She tells me because of this I may have lost access to the well. I won't see my family again. She tells me everything, expects me to accept this...this crap. Tells me EVERYTHING except how to leave here._

In the aftermath of everything, the entire time Kagome had been running, this _voice_ constantly spoke, informing her of everything that had happened to her and around her. She told her of the cure. Explained its direct effects. Something that, despite her earlier claims to accept whatever the cure had in store for her, she was having a hard time doing. It wasn't resentment, that she felt. It was just fear.

And annoyance.

_I'm so sick and tired of this voice! _

"But it's YOUR voice, Kagome...."

"Oh, wonderful. You can read minds too, now? Well since you seem to be knowledgeable about everything going on, even my own private thoughts, how about you get me out of here?"

"I'm not the one keeping you trapped here, Kagome. The one person you have to blame for this is....you."

Anger boiled in Kagome's chest, her patience running out with the entire situation. "You're not making any damn sense! If I wanted to leave, I wouldn't BE HERE!"

"Then leave, you have the power to stay....or you have the power to go. The choice is up to you."

Kagome growled but continued to run, determined to direct her energy towards eluding from the shadow first, then discovering how to escape the madness she was surrounded by.

At this opportune time, Kagome felt a tremor in her leg, as a cramp seized her calf. A sharp pain shot up into her leg, causing the miko to fall to the ground with a cry. She immediately tried to get up and continue her running, but as soon as she tried to bare weight on her leg, the pain intensified and she fell back to the ground. Panic ground it's way all around Kagome, as she clutched at her leg and called out into the darkness.

"PLEASE! HELP ME! Tell me how to get out of here! I can't do this by myself."

"Stop running Kagome."

"Running? I have no choice but to run. I am unarmed, my spiritual powers serve no purpose in the place! Get me out of here! NOW!"

"Stop running Kagome. Face them. Face your fears. For in a second you won't have a choice. If you haven't the courage to do so...you will die."

Fear seized Kagome and she dragged herself forward, looking back only to see the shadow figure gaining ground on her. A loud sob broke free, as Kagome saw no way to defend herself.

"I'm not running from anything. Please...you've got to believe me."

"You ARE running away. From your future, who you are, as you are right now. You are running away from your past, what you left behind. You have a choice. Either except your life as it is. Understand that you are no longer simply a human, but a half demon. Understand the power that you now hold. But you must understand yourself to save yourself. Stop running Kagome. Face your fears!"

Kagome whipped around to find the shadow right behind her, his ghoulish face ominously looming over her, a katana sword in his hand, raised and ready to strike.

"PLEASE!!!" Kagome covered her head to protect herself from the first blow that was sure to come at any second.

"FIGHT YOUR FEARS KAGOME!! SAVE YOURSELF!"

Full of fear of what she had become and fear of the unknown bubbled inside of Kagome. Her hands flew forward, and suddenly a beam of light erupted from her hands, flying directly into the shadow. The influx of energy caused Kagome to whip back a the shadow instantly disappeared, disintegrating in the wake of her blast. When Kagome looking up all she saw was the bright pink-reddish light of her aura returning to her hands, and a spectral dust circulating in the air around her.

"Miko...."

Kagome turned, her breath still ragged from what she had just witnessed, to find that her soul's figure had returned, the room returning to its former white brilliance.

_That came from me?_

"Yes it did Kagome. Would you like to know why?"

Finding no room to argue, she quietly nodded her head, as her gaze shifted down at her hands in amazement.

"You quite simply overcame your fears. It was something that you had to defeat, on your own, before I could allow you to awaken. You understand now, and it seems that you have learned to accept." The figure smirked, "Something that took our husband YEARS to master....you did all in the shortest amount of time. Very good. Very good indeed, miko."

Kagome exhaled, her breath pushing her feathered bangs upwards into the air. "For the love of...This was a test? I thought I was going to die!" When the figure's face remained unchanged, Kagome put her hands on her hips "So what? Another test? Some kind of maze you are going to run me through?"

The figure took this time to turn her smirk into a full blown smile, her hands reaching across to grasp Kagome's in her own.

"No, dear." Kagome's soul took one step forward, her body vaporizing and seemingly mending and meshing with Kagome's figure.

"No more test. No more pain. No more, changeling. I think it's time you went home...."

***


	5. Fin

Kagome felt as if her head had been swiped off. It wasn't a physical pain much rather pressure, that seemed to surround her on all sides. Exhaling, she opened her parched mouth to speak, but found that she couldn't with her throat dry as a desert. The next step seemed even harder, as Kagome feared cracking an eyelid open, expecting to find the quiet white void she'd been trapped in for what seemed like centuries. She didn't think she could physically or mentally best another "test" thrown her way, and would rather stay sleep for a few more hours before she was challenged again.

But she sighed. She had just went through a very trying exercise of facing fears and overcoming obstacles, that yielded some very interesting and astonishing results. She thought back to all of her travels with her friends, how she had always been the weaker one. One that depended on her companions for protection. Especially her InuYasha. She knew he reveled in the fact that he was her protector, it was almost like he was born to be so. But in the same breath, she mentally didn't think of herself as a damsel in distress, but due to her lack of knowledge in hand to hand combat, especially in the beginning, qualified as such and she hated it. To walk around, and have nothing but low born spiritual powers to rely on. All she wanted was to be equal in the eyes of those she loved. Even those she hated.

But with InuYasha's cure, her hanyou's blood running through hers, she felt powerful. Not only because of what she manifested in her fear, although if that kind of power was tangible in her conscious state, she'd be perfectly happy. But now she felt a equal to her husband, to her friends, as she now contained the will to survive on her own. She delivered herself from the monsters that were hunting her psyche and she did it without a single shard of help from her friends. She could smile at that.

With that she decided she could face anything, and decided now she could open her eyes to whatever faced her. The voice had said no more test. Yet, somehow she knew she had another one, charging straight ahead of her.

When Kagome lifted one eyelid, she found herself surrounded by red, immediately thinking that the color of her confinement had changed colors once again. She moved to lift her head and as she moved she heard the room growl a deep, comforting roll of timbre all around her. Then a fragrant smelled wafted towards her and she recognized it immediately, although never smelling it as copious as she did at that moment.

InuYasha.

Kagome's eyes fluttered softly. He smelled of rich woods and freedom; an air of excitement and adventure...he smelled like home. She now understood the throes her husband went through, how he could be totally drunk with the smells of his surroundings, because at this moment she'd never smelled anything as delicious and intoxicating.

Both eyes shot wide open when the realization dawned on her where she was. The reason she could smell him. He was near...The red....his firerat. She was AWAKE, back in a conscious state, away from rooms and ghouls, and figures that looked exactly like her, figures that _were_ her. She tried to lift her arms up to part the heavy sleeves that enveloped her, only managing to slide it off her chest and onto the floor. She then recognized the growl as InuYasha was dead asleep, holding her. She tried calling out to him.

"Inu..."

Her voiced cracked, it desperately conveying its need of water on its parched throat. When he didn't move, she tried again, but he didn't answer to her second call as well. Frustrated that she had finally returned but couldn't reach out to her love, she concentrated, funneling all her strength into her core, hoping some would transfer to her limps. Her eyebrows furrowed in focus, her eyes clinched shut in concentration. What resulted wasn't what she expected. Instead of the limbs she was so desperately trying to move in her weakened state, her core pulsed, pushing energy outwards. It wasn't very strong, but it was powerful enough to stir the hanyou from his sleep.

_Not exactly what I wanted...but if it works..._

InuYasha knew he was dreaming when he imagined Kagome trying to call out to him, but her voice to fading into nothing, even when she was near him. But he was definitely sure he wasn't dreaming the pulse of energy he felt wrap around him, pushing his hair off his shoulders to flow in the currents of the updraft. He covertly slid a hand down towards the floor where his Tessiaga laid beside him, clutching at the hilt of the sword. Warily he shot on eye open to assess his surroundings, ready to strike a moments notice. He would protect Kagome this time, whether it killed him or not.

But when he opened his eyes, he saw nothing. The same cool chilled air surrounding him and Kagome was there, empty, as it was before he fell asleep.

_Well that was weird..._

Quirking a puzzled eyebrow upwards, he glanced down into his lap, his hand unfolding from around Tessiaga's sheath.

Sheath.

The colored drained from his face and he felt slightly faint as to what laid before his eyes. He thought he was dreaming, but knew he wasn't. Knew he was wide awake as he looked down to see two eyes staring back at him, a smile dancing in the chocolate abysses of her warmth. The breath stilled in his chest, his mouth fell agape and the words he had practiced over and over for this very moment, failing him.

"Kag..."

Her voice still useless, she smiled up at him, her heart thumping increasingly fast every moment he looked at her. She felt as if it had been ages since she last seen her love, and oh, how she was thirsty for him. He was sight for sore eyes, and she took her time drinking in every line and curve of his face. She blinked, her vision blurring as tears sprang to her eyes. She never knew how much she could miss someone. But she always found herself finding the answer to that question in InuYasha's golden depths. The sight of him pulled at her heartstrings, causing the unshed tears to crevasse, falling down her face in trails of happiness. For the first time in what seemed like many, when she sighed, it was laced with joy and contentment.

The moment she smiled, InuYasha thought that he could fall apart at the seams in his love for her. He stilled the in tension he had created from wanting to hold still, not wanting to hurt her. With baited breath, he slowly lowered his shaking hand, the pad of his thumb brushing the tears from her face away as he continued to stare down into her orbs. He just wanted to touch her, make sure she was real, that he wasn't dreaming that she'd returned to him.

And she was.

He briefly closed his eyes and overcame his fear of injuring her, swiftly pulled her completely into his arms, his face buried in her hair, her neck, her bosom. Everything of her that was here, in this moment. She was as soft as a summer breeze and smelled like his safe haven, his source of peace. No words were needed really, just confirmation of the current reality that this nightmare was over and she was home.

Placing soft kisses along her jaw, he stopped as his face came before her, just a breath away.

"I'd thought I'd lost you...."

She softly shook her head no as she reached up with reserved strength to run the flat of her hand against the smoothness of his cheek. Then running the pad of her thumb across his lip, bringing the digit back to her own lips to kiss it, she mouthed the words.

"Never."

InuYasha and Kagome stayed like that for what seemed like hours, only moving to get Kagome the water her throat craved and to wrap a thin blanket over their chilled bodies. So wrapped up in each other, they didn't noticed when the footfalls of a woman treaded into the foyer of their hut.

"Ka...KAGOME???"

The surprised pitched voice broke the trance they had found themselves in, their heads in unison shifting towards the source, the eyes following the broken water vase rolling on the ground.

Sango stood in the doorway, shock writ apparent on her lovely face. Without hesitation she flew through the home, her arms wrapping both InuYasha and Kagome up in her embrace. She withdrew her hug, only to place her hands on either side of Kagome's face. The slightly older woman scanned Kagome's body for injuries, her eyes jumping back and forth in concern.

_When had Kagome awoken, how long had she been up? Was she okay? What happe...WHO cares! _

She again threw her arms around the miko, her grip godlike as she swam in the realization that Kagome had returned to the land of the living. _"_Oh Gods! Kagome you're alright! Oh dear Gods, your alright and you're back! I'm so..."

And before she could finish the sentence, Sango was to her feet, running back out of the hut and down the path. Kagome looked over to her husband, who only could shrug at the taijiya sudden behavior. InuYasha's gaze once again returned to his wife's face, a soft smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. Feeling tempted, he moved in slowly, planning to capture Kagome's lips in a kiss when the mat of his home flew open again and his hut was invaded by Miroku, Sango, Shippou, Kaede and Rin.

Shippou couldn't contain himself as he jumped down from Miroku's shoulder, bounding across the room towards Kagome. When he reached her, he quickly climbed her body, latching himself around her neck.

"You're back you're back you're back you're back you're back!!" his mouth moving a mile a minute and he familiarized himself with his miko mother. Kagome reached up plucking the kit from around her neck and placing him in her lap. "I missed you very much Shippou!" and she reached down to give him a tight hug. Miroku approached Kagome, a huge grin splashed across her handsome features.

"Ah! It seems that you have returned, fair Kagome. Words cannot express our joy that you are safe and out of harms way. That was quite an ordeal, you two went through." Miroku bent down to deliver himself a hug to the miko, and on his way up, grabbed Shippou and returned him to his shoulder.

"We feared our InuYasha here on the brink of insanity. Good thing you returned, because I'd rather avoid an deranged hanyou any day." Miroku placed a hand on the back of his head and bellowed out a healthy laugh, letting his friend know it was all in jest. He was very happy at the turn of events, and even happier for the warm glow that had returned to InuYasha's countenance.

Rin was slow to approach Kagome. She hadn't the first clue what to say to Kagome, let alone what to do around her now. She was very pleased, if not downright joyful that Kagome had returned. But now she was left wondering what was in store for her. Sure it was perfectly okay for her to study to be a priestess as a human. Although she had no spiritual powers of her own, their religion was that of human nature and allowed her to flourish regardless. She hadn't heard of youkai being priestesses, and although she wasn't technically a youkai, she was hanyou and feared that there would be no place for her in training. But still she approached her eyes cast to the floor as she neared Kagome.

"Rin?" Kagome was confused at Rin's behavior, her slower manner in approaching. After the ordeal that they BOTH had been through, you'd think she would have been a slight bit more excited to see her, but that wasn't the case. Her shoulders slumped and her eyes held a worry that she'd never seen in Rin's eyes. This troubled her. What did Rin have to be worried about? Everything turned out okay....right?

"Kagome-sama...." Rin paused still unsure.

Kagome de-tangeled herself from her hanyou, lifting herself from the ground. She approached Rin with baited steps. "Look at me, dear Rin. What is the matter. You look as if something is troubling you...."

Rin inhaled. "No...that's not it. This Rin experienced some of what you went through and I am so so so very happy that you are safe and away from harm." Rin stepped closer, not sure if she wanted every ear in the room to hear her foolish question. _Of course I already know the answer. Youkai...or hanyou's can't be priestesses. It was never heard of. _

Rin decided that she still needed to hear the words from Kagome's lips as confirmation. "I...I-I won't be able to continue my studies as I am, will I?"

Kagome sharp intake of breath was heard above Rin's hushed whispers, grabbing the attention of everyone in the room. They stood watch as Kagome softly laid her hands on Rin's shoulders, easing the girl down into a kneeling position, with the miko following close behind her. As they sat, Kagome sighed, and reached out so that Rin who was currently studying the planks of her home was forced to look up at herself.

"We as priestesses have one job in this life. To heal. Whether it be to heal spirits, bodies, or anything else we happened to be blessed to come across in our lives here on this land. You are gifted in these arts, no matter what form you are in. You appreciate nature and our ability to communicate with it. Our connection with the spirit world is one you understand, so regardless of what's going on with you on the outside, your spirit is true and forever will be that of a priestess. Don't let anybody tell you different. Ever."

A grin so contagious broke out on Rin's face that Kagome had no choice but to smile at the younger woman. "Oh Thank you Kagome-sama! Thank you! You don't know just how heartbroken I was when I thought about it!" Rin sighed, relief washing over her. She reached over and threw her arms around Kagome's neck, placing gigantic kisses on the miko's cheeks. "Ooh! Later on we must talk! There are so many changes! I have so many questions..."

Kagome laughed at Rin's newfound exuberance, glad to see the Rin she was used too, in front of her. Kaede wobbled over, kissing Kagome on the forehead, but not saying a word. A smile splayed across her face, though, conveying Kaede's happiness.

"Oh yes Kagome-sama! Rin HAS to tell you about the things she learned. This Urishol plant and what it does. You know you learn a lot when..."

The merriment of Kagome waking up and the safe actuality of the Miko and Rin's condition continued into the night. They all took turns telling Kagome their version of events of the last few days. The older adults conveniently left off how Akihiko, had witnessed his mother's sickened state, but mentioned how the headmaster's family was taking care of him in her absence. The mass majority of the conversation was centered on Rin and Kagome.

Kagome got the chance to explain how they could expect some changes in her spiritually, those that she would explore when she was well rested. There were a lot of strange things that happened in this quaint village of theirs. But none so strange as a miko with expressed spiritual powers that had grown exponentially almost over night, who was married to a hanyou and was now a hanyou herself. Yes, the changes they experienced and how life would be totally different but all the while, still very same in the village, was on everyone's lip. A village that now housed, a hanyou, two hanyou mikos, a monk and taijiya, a full youkai and the former ward of a taiyoukai. Even when so much changes everything still stays the same.

After a while, Miroku shot a glance over at his friend's face. He could tell InuYasha was being patient but it was quickly running out. He desired alone time with his wife and it was almost tangible in the air surrounding the swordsman. Miroku cleared his throat, effectively cutting in Rin's animated chatter, which was falling from her mouth again at a rapid pace.

"As excited as we are to see Kagome after such a long trial, I think we should leave her to get some rest." Looking over now at Kagome, he smiled again. "I'll bring Akihiko as soon as you've gotten some rest."

Kagome made to get up, signaling she was ready to see her child now, but InuYasha's firm grip around her waist, signaled otherwise. "Get some rest, anata. Please...."

As everyone filled out of their small home, Kagome made her way to their futon, reveling in the softness of it all. She laid her tired head down, motioning for her husband to join her. She softly sighed as his arms wrapped around her, his hands finding the small of her back. She tucked her chin under his, and nipped softly at his neck. Running his hand in circles in the small of his back, he looked back down at his love, still amazed to find her here in his arms. .

"I was scared Kagome." He closed his eyes, the torrent of emotions that he had felt, freeing themselves to the surface. "They have no idea how lucky I am that you chose me."

"I said I'd never leave you InuYasha. This family. You. Akihiko. You are my _life_. Without you two, I am nothing but a lost woman. I would have gone to battle with the devil himself, if only to see your face one more time. And I am so very glad that I had the strength to make it back here." Kagome sighed for what seemed the hundredth time that evening. "You forgive me, right?"

Confusion flashed across InuYasha's face, as he pulled back slightly to look directly at her. "Forgive you? You sacrificed yourself for ME. You were hurt because of me. You are now...what you are....because of me. How could you ask me if I forgive you, koi? I should be begging for your forgiveness."

Kagome pulled him back closer to her, her forehead not resting softly against his as she stared into his eyes.

"What am I InuYasha? I am powerful. Powerful in your love for me. And powerful in my love for myself. I accept everything as destiny. That I was destined to meet you, fall for you, become one with you, become one _like _you. I love you, and everything you are. Don't blame yourself. This was _meant_ to happen."

InuYasha stared at the woman he held in her arms. She was simply amazing, and yes he was truly blessed to have such a powerful love to share with her. And he was forever grateful she was back...she was here...she was his.

"I love you Kagome....now and forever."

Kagome smiled and she kissed at his brow, her cheeks flush with warmth. "I know InuYasha. I love you too"

As they laid there into the night, Kagome laid her chest on her husband's chest, listening to the song his heart made, and she hummed a tune in honor of their love to its beat. She'd take time in the future to explore the changes that now defined her as a hanyou. She'd explore them with her husband at her side and her child in her lap. She was loved. She was safe. She was home.

Sleep came to claim her, her eyelids dropping with each passing moment, but this time when the darkness came, it didn't consume her.

**A/N: That one was fun! Thanks for reading! **


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